THE STORY OF JOE SIMMONS

 

My father was a gifted engineer, a master wood craftsman and had a wonderful shop where I was always making something. At about 12 years old I began making small metal sculptures, jewelry, light fixtures, furniture, and mechanical devices, to name a few.

As a teenager, I was dragging home found metal objects and finding ways to weld them together to make interesting art objects, and to my surprise I sold them all.

In 1971, at 15 years of age I showed some of my sculptures to a small group of metal sculptors called The Quong Group, near downtown Dallas and was hired there. We made jewelry, abstract wall sculptures, and sculptures of trees, fish, birds, among
many other works. I worked there through high school until I moved out on my own at the age of 19.

I then worked in the industrial side of metal, working as a welder and fabricator. While working at Dallas Metalsmiths, producers of fine architectural fixtures, I learned how to operate the heavy machinery of metal fabricating and furthered my education about all
things Metal.

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In 1982, after a couple of years of trying my hand at sailing charter boats in the Caribbean, I was fortunate to work for a very talented and prominent metals craftsman, artist, and designer, James Cinquemani who I had met years earlier while we both worked at
Dallas Metalsmiths. I worked with him for 5 years, learning the finer aspects of metal fabrication, metal sculpture, art, architecture, and engineering.

I have never specialized in any one area; I’ve shown artwork in galleries and shops and outdoor sculpture gardens. I have designed and built light fixtures and chandeliers, all types of furniture, jewelry, pedestals, water fountains, clothing store fixtures, banisters, all
sorts of architectural fixtures, large and small. My work can be seen in airports, museums, hotels, restaurants, nightclubs, bank lobbies, office buildings, and private residences.
I am still intrigued with the beauty of Metal Art and delight in bringing Old World techniques and New Age technology together to make new forms of Art, and functional art.